Puerto Penasco, Mexico - Rocky Point, that is.

Get ready for an onslaught of photos here. This is my scrapbook you know!!

We are lucky enough to have a great friend who owns a condo in Rocky Point, Mexico. He has been so generous to let us use it. It is only a 4 1/2 hour drive from Phoenix, has a great pool with water slide, and is right on the beach. This is our third time going down there since we have lived here. The kids have a blast every time!

I never upload the photos in a great order, so this will be a bit random.

If you enlarge this photo you can see the octopus in the middle there. We had such a great time searching for shells, hermit crabs, fish, and all other sea life. It wasn't hard to find any of them. I think I was enjoying it more than the kids.

One morning Max and Nora woke up at 5:30am! Of course! I decided to take them down to the beach so the others could sleep in a bit. The lighting was great and so was the temperature. I could have stayed there all morning.

I love this kid so much. Max seems to have really grown up in just the last couple of weeks. I've always said there is something about the age of 4. As you can see, he still sports much of his wardrobe backwards though! I love it...it keeps him little in my eyes!

Nora liked walking on the beach and feeling the wind in her hair.

When I saw her cute sandy toes I had to get a picture. My friend has a similar picture of her daughters toes in her home and I LOVE it!!

When it was time to go back up to the condo Nora was not having any of it! She loves to sit and pout these days. It cracks me up, and ALWAYS makes me smile...really!

I love how she has to keep looking up to make sure you see her pouting. She really works it!

Here we all are in a painful family picture. It was so bright, and the kids just wanted to get down to the beach!!


Nora's outfit is classic in this picture. She hat to wear the ugly hat that we paid through the nose for in San Diego when we were there a few weeks ago. (you do anything when your desperate to avoid a sunburn) And for some reason she was determined to wear those goggles...even though she wanted nothing to do with the ocean.


Just had to throw in this picture of my handsome Jack.


...and my wet and wild beauty Ella.


Ella was the best sister EVER on this trip. She probably took Nora down the water slide 50 times.


She was always so sweet and aware of her.


I'm not sure if you can tell, but Ella is under the water and holding up Nora to keep her safe! HOW SWEET!


Max liked trying all sorts of moves.


This was Jack's favorite position.



I just smiled every time I saw them coming out of that tube! (which was about 200 times)



This picture cracks me up because Nora looks so tough. It's like she's saying, "oh yea, I'm goin' on the big slide...can you handle it?"



Paul took the older kids on a banana boat. I wasn't too sure about this. I mean, they aren't that concerned with safety over the boarder. Just look at the size of the life jackets on my kids. Luckily they all survived and had a great time.



This is my favorite part of the beach...where the water crashes on the sand. That's about as far as I like to get in these days.



The kids loved having Paul all to themselves again. He really is their idol.



Not much to say about this picture except that I love it. Nora was sporting the 1980's Michael Jackson hair the whole trip...forehead curl and all.



This was Max's reaction when it was time to leave. Is he just the cutest thing ever?



This was Nora's reaction to leaving. Followed by...



of course.



This is what I like to see behind me on the way home. We had a great time!

Hawaii

We were so lucky to be able to go to Hawaii the first week of October following the St. George Marathon. We took a red-eye flight from Las Vegas about 15 hours after completing the marathon. Of course we were on the back row where the seats do not recline, and I had the hardest time getting any sleep. It was all good though because I knew I had a full week of doing whatever I wanted!!

We really had so much fun and were able to see lots of great friends from all our many moves in life. We were there for the National Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Conference, so many of our Dental/Surgery buddies were there too. I don't have pictures of everyone because we were losers and forgot a camera!!! We were too worried about the 26.2 mile run I guess. The blood was servicing other parts of our bodies...not our brains! So the pictures below are courtesy of our friends Brent and Tracie Boyse. Brent is a partner of Paul's and we just love these guys.

One day we rented mopeds and rode up to a pretty secluded area only known by locals. My brother Brad lived in Hawaii for several years and gave us the tip. After only one spill by yours truly we were on our way. I am going to have to find out the name of the trail we took because after this long I've forgotten. It was so lush and green. It was probably the highlight of my week!
Here we are at the top overlooking Waikiki! Forgive the helmet hair! My brother also told me that this was one of the "pit stops" for the Amazing Race one season. Thanks Brad!!
This is me with my friend Nicole from Wisconsin. She is actually from Oregon, but we met in Wisconsin. She saved me in many ways while I was there. I had no friends for two years there until she moved in. I love her SO MUCH and was so happy to see her. I can't wait for the birth of her third baby in several weeks! Yes that is my naturally curly mane...I mean hair. I tried to tame it the first day or two, and then decided that with the humidity it was a losing battle. Oh well, it was easy!
This is my friend Stephanie from Kentucky! Okay, she is from Utah, but we met in Kentucky. She now lives in South Carolina. We hadn't seen each other for over 5 years!! She is such a sweetheart.
This is Tracie and I. She's the one who took all these great pictures for me. I'm so glad to have her here in Arizona. She is such a good person and is so generous. She not only got me a copy of all these pictures, but she printed them out and made me a little photo album. SO SWEET!
Here we all are on the night we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. In this picture are Paul and I in the middle. Brent and Tracie to the left, and other staffers surrounding us. It was so fun to see the assistants and office staff having such a great time. They are really great people.
This is Paul and I overlooking Hanauma Bay. We went snorkeling and it was so beautiful.
Scary picture of me, but Paul looks so cute with his Lei! We had a great time!